Chapter 17: Lord Voldemort
Exempt from the end-of-term tests as a Triwizard champion, Harry had been sitting in the back of every exam class so far, looking up fresh hexes for the third task.
"Its' over." he grinned at Dean; but just then. Professor McGonagall came walking alongside the Gryffindor table toward him.
"Potter, the champions are congregating in the chamber off the Hall after breakfast," she said.
"But the task's not till tonight!" said Harry.
"I'm aware of that, Potter," she said. "The champions' families are invited to watch the final task, you know. This is simply a chance for you to greet them. "
She moved away.
"She doesn't expect the Dursleys to turn up, does she?" he asked Seamus blankly.
"Dunno," said Seamus. "Harry, I'd better hurry, I'm going to be late for Binns. See you later. "
Harry finished his breakfast in the emptying Great Hall. He saw Fleur Delacour get up from the Ravenclaw table and cross to the side chamber. Krum slouched off to join her shortly afterward. Harry stayed where he was. He really didn't want to go into the chamber. He had no family - no family who would turn up to see him risk his life, anyway. But just as he was getting up, thinking that he might as well go up to the library and do a spot more hex research, the door of the side chamber opened, and Fleur stuck his head out.
"Harry, come on, zey're waiting for you!"
Utterly perplexed. Harry got up. The Dursleys couldn't possibly be here, could they? He walked across the Hall and opened the door into the chamber.
Viktor Krum was over in a corner, conversing with his dark-haired mother and father in rapid Bulgarian. He had inherited his father's hooked nose. On the other side of the room, Fleur was jabbering away in French to her mother. Fleur's little sister, Gabrielle, was holding her mother's hand. She waved at Harry, who waved back, grinning. Then he saw Mrs. Weasley and Bill standing in front of the fireplace, beaming at him.
"Surprise!" Mrs. Weasley said excitedly as he smiled broadly and walked over to them. "Thought we'd come and watch you. Harry!" She bent down and kissed him on the cheek.
"You all right?" said Bill, grinning at Harry and shaking his hand. "Charlie wanted to come, but he couldn't get time off. He said you were incredible against the Ridgeback. "
Fleur Delacour, Harry noticed, was eyeing Bill with great interest over her mother's shoulder. Harry could tell she had no objection whatsoever to long hair or earrings with fangs on them.
"This is really nice of you," Harry muttered to Mrs. Weasley. "I thought for a moment - the Dursleys -"
"Hmm," said Mrs. Weasley, pursing her lips. She had always refrained from criticizing the Dursleys in front of Harry, but her eyes flashed every time they were mentioned.
"It's great being back here," said Bill, looking around the chamber (Violet, the Fat Lady's friend, winked at him from her frame). "Haven't seen this place for five years. Is that picture of the mad knight still around? Sir Cadogan?"
"Oh yeah," said Harry, who had met Sir Cadogan the previous year.
"And the Fat Lady?" said Bill.
"She was here in my time," said Mrs. Weasley. "She gave me such a telling off one night when I got back to the dormitory at four in the morning -"
"What were you doing out of your dormitory at four in the morning?" said Bill, surveying his mother with amazement.
Mrs. Weasley grinned, her eyes twinkling.
"Your father and I had been for a nighttime stroll," she said. "He got caught by Apollyon Pringle - he was the caretaker in those days - your father's still got the marks. "
"Fancy giving us a tour, Harry?" said Bill.
"Yeah, okay," said Harry, and they made their way back toward the door into the Great Hall. He bumped into Draco on the way out.
"Hey mate." Draco grinned. "Father says he couldn't come and apologizes: politics in the Ministry. They took your recommendation and boosted the Auror Corps!"
Then, Draco noticed the Weasley's with Harry and stiffened imperceptibly.
"Mrs. Weasley." he stated.
She looked at him, her lips pursed, before sighing. "You hurt Harry and I'll come after you, hear me?"
Draco looked surprised, then grinned. "If I hurt him it's my sister I have to be worried about."
Bill grinned. "I hear you. Last time Ron pissed Ginny off he had to go the Saint Mungos because she found a way to make bat bogies attack him. Wandlessly, in accidental magic."
"It's worse." Draco smirked. "Lyra snitched a book from the Malfoy Libraries on groin related hexes that father hid away because of the last time mother got angry at him."
"We have exams!" Blaise bellowed at him across the hall, and Draco waved before dashing off.
Both Weasley's looked faintly surprised at seeing a Malfoy so normal, but they got over it. Harry spent the rest of the day with them, laughing. They all ate in the Champion Table with the rest of House Hedwig. Viktor had some friends from Slytherin and Bulgaria with him, and Fleur had her Beauxbatons friends.
"You've prepared, right?" Lyra asked him worriedly as he donned his graphorn duelling robes and polished his wand.
"Yeah." he replied, turning around to take her hand. "I'll be fine Lyra, I promise."
She smiled and they kissed, before breaking apart and going to the maze.
"Good luck." she whispered before leaving for the stands.
Now it was just Harry and Dumbledore.
"Harry, I must talk to you about your training and whatnot. I feel as though you are being robbed of your childhood." he said.
Harry scoffed. "The moment Voldemort killed my parents I was robbed of my childhood."
The cannon sounded and he walked out to tumultuous cheering from all of Hogwarts. The House Hedwig stand had a huge banner made by Dean with HARRY POTTER, TRIWIZARD CHAMPION emblazoned on it.
"On my whistle Harry, Fleur, Viktor." Bagman told them.
He gave a short whistle blast and the three walked forward, stopping at the crossroads.
"Good luck." he said before taking the left path. Fleur took the middle, and Viktor the right.
"Point me." he whispered, holding his wand flat in his hand after reaching another intersection. It spun left and he took that path, always keeping his hand on the wall.
Then, before he could do anything, he was suspended in midair by a large, grey skinned creature holding a club.
It was a troll.
Flashing back to his first year, Harry let out a wandless stinger that caused the troll the drop him and used his wand to let out a gout of fire that burnt it. The troll let out an angry bellow and he ducked under its legs, dashing away.
He continued on his way, taking a right, another right, and a middle fork. He was now in front of a golden cloud, but there was no other way because the hedges had already closed around him. He took a deep breath and walked in, only to be levitated upside down.
"Finite Incantatem." he tried, relieved when he dropped to the ground.
He turned a corner and saw a dementor coming toward him, its breath rattling.
"Expecto Patronum!" he cast, his panther coming out and pouncing on the dementor.
It stumbled, and Harry realized that dementors couldn't stumble. It was a boggart, and he easily dispatched it.
He took some more turns, and then he ran into one of Hagrid's Blast Ended Skrewts. He had been looking over their weaknesses since he knew Hagrid was raising them for the tournament and he used a levitation spell to levitate it and then sliced its soft underbelly.
Then, he ran off, taking two middle forks and a sharp left.
Every so often he hit more dead ends, but the increasing darkness made him feel sure he was getting near the heart of the maze. Then, as he strode down a long, straight path, he saw movement once again, and his beam of wandlight hit an extraordinary creature, one which he had only seen in picture form, in his Monster Book of Monsters.
It was a sphinx. It had the body of an over-large lion: great clawed paws and a long yellowish tail ending in a brown tuft. Its head, however, was that of a woman. She turned her long, almond-shaped eyes upon Harry as he approached. He raised his wand, hesitating. She was not crouching as if to spring, but pacing from side to side of the path, blocking his progress. Then she spoke, in a deep, hoarse voice.
"You are very near your goal. The quickest way is past me. "
"Riddles, right?" he asked.
"You're a sharp one." she grinned, flashing sharp teeth. "I will give you a number of riddles. Until I am satisfied, you answer. Answer on the first guess you continue. Answer wrong, you die."
Harry took a deep breath."Okay," he said. "Can I hear the riddle?"
The sphinx sat down upon her hind legs, in the very middle of the path, and recited:
"First think of the person who lives in disguise,
Who deals in secrets and tells naught but lies.
Next, tell me what's always the last thing to mend,
The middle of middle and end of the end?
And finally give me the sound often heard
During the search for a hard-to-find word.
Now string them together, and answer me this,
Which creature would you be unwilling to kiss?"
Harry thought a couple minutes before answering, "spider."
She grinned and started again.
This thing all things devours:
Birds, beasts, trees, flowers;
Gnaws iron, bites steel;
Grinds hard stones to meal;
Slays king, ruins town,
And beats high mountain down.
"Time." he answered confidently.
I have cities but no mountains,
Water but no fish,
Forests but no trees
What am I?
Harry thought, but he couldn't think. Finally, he answered, "A map?"
She smiled and let him pass. He grinned and walked on, using his wand to light the path. He turned a corner and saw the cup in front of him.
He had done it.
Grinning wider now he dashed to the cup and placed his hand on it, the familiar sensation of a portkey taking him back in front of the stands.
The moment he came in there was a loud cheer from the stands, the band playing at full strength. He could see Lyra screaming and cheering for him, while the others waved banners. Fred and George let out fireworks while Lee was bellowing that Harry had won.
They streamed down and Harry grinned as he shook hands with all of them and kissed Lyra very happily.
"Congrats." Cedric grinned as he shook Harry's hand."
"Thanks." Harry grinned.
Suddenly, Harry saw a yellow rat that he recognized as Peter Pettigrew at his feet. Before he could do anything he and Cedric were portkeyed away to locations unknown.
Shit.
The moment they landed Harry rolled up and pulled out his wand, whipping around the find Cedric. Peter Pettigrew had his wand to Cedric's throat, and a leery grin on his face.
"Kill the spare." a high, creepy, cold voice uttered from the pile of black cloth in the corner of the graveyard in which they were deposited.
"NO!" Harry bellowed, wand already flicking away and taking Cedric towards him, but it was too late.
The killing curse slammed Cedric straight in the back and he dropped down, a surprised expression embedded forevermore on his handsome face.
"No." Harry choked out, dropping to his knees and scrambling to Cedric's body.
With a wicked grin Pettigrew took his wand from him and tied him up before he could react, tying him to the headstone of a grave labelled TOM MARVOLO RIDDLE. This was Voldemort's dad's grave.
Stupid stupid. You shouldn't have lost your wand and gone into shock like that he told himself.
Cedric's body was lying some twenty feet away. Some way beyond him, glinting in the starlight, lay the Triwizard Cup. Harry's wand was on the ground at Cedric's feet. The bundle of robes that Harry had thought was a baby was close by, at the foot of the grave. It seemed to be stirring fretfully. Harry watched it.
He could hear noises at his feet. He looked down and saw a gigantic snake slithering through the grass, circling the headstone where he was tied. Wormtail's fast, wheezy breathing was growing louder again. It sounded as though he was forcing something heavy across the ground. Then he came back within Harry's range of vision, and Harry saw him pushing a stone cauldron to the foot of the grave. It was full of what seemed to be water - Harry could hear it slopping around - and it was larger than any cauldron Harry had ever used; a great stone belly large enough for a full-grown man to sit in.
The thing inside the bundle of robes on the ground was stirring more persistently, as though it was trying to free itself. Now Wormtail was busying himself at the bottom of the cauldron with a wand. Suddenly there were crackling names beneath it. The large snake slithered away into the darkness.
The liquid in the cauldron seemed to heat very fast. The surface began not only to bubble, but to send out fiery sparks, as though it were on fire. Steam was thickening, blurring the outline of Wormtail tending the fire. The movements beneath the robes became more agitated. And Harry heard the high, cold voice again.
"Hurry!"
The whole surface of the water was alight with sparks now. It might have been encrusted with diamonds.
"It is ready. Master. "
"Now. . . " said the cold voice.
Wormtail pulled open the robes on the ground, revealing what was inside them, and Harry let out a yell that was strangled in the wad of material blocking his mouth.
It was as though Wormtail had flipped over a stone and revealed something ugly, slimy, and blind - but worse, a hundred times worse. The thing Wormtail had been carrying had the shape of a crouched human child, except that Harry had never seen anything less like a child. It was hairless and scaly-looking, a dark, raw, reddish black. Its arms and legs were thin and feeble, and its face - no child alive ever had a face like that - flat and snakelike, with gleaming red eyes.
The thing seemed almost helpless; it raised its thin arms, put them around Wormtail's neck, and Wormtail lifted it. As he did so, his hood fell back, and Harry saw the look of revulsion on Wormtail's weak, pale face in the firelight as he carried the creature to the rim of the cauldron. For one moment, Harry saw the evil, flat face illuminated in the sparks dancing on the surface of the potion. And then Wormtail lowered the creature into the cauldron; there was a hiss, and it vanished below the surface; Harry heard its frail body hit the bottom with a soft thud.
Let it drown, Harry thought, please. . . let it drown. . . .
Wormtail was speaking. His voice shook; he seemed frightened beyond his wits. He raised his wand, closed his eyes, and spoke to the night.
"Bone of the father, unknowingly given, you will renew your son!"
The surface of the grave at Harry's feet cracked. Horrified, Harry watched as a fine trickle of dust rose into the air at Wormtail's command and fell softly into the cauldron. The diamond surface of the water broke and hissed; it sent sparks in all directions and turned a vivid, poisonous-looking blue.
And now Wormtail was whimpering. He pulled a long, thin, shining silver dagger from inside his cloak. His voice broke into petrified sobs.
"Flesh - of the servant - w-willingly given - you will - revive - your master. "
He stretched his right hand out in front of him - the hand with the missing finger. He gripped the dagger very tightly in his left hand and swung it upward.
Harry realized what Wormtail was about to do a second before it happened - he closed his eyes as tightly as he could, but he could not block the scream that pierced the night, that went through Harry as though he had been stabbed with the dagger too. He heard something fall to the ground, heard Wormtail's anguished panting, then a sickening splash, as something was dropped into the cauldron. Harry couldn't stand to look. . . but the potion had turned a burning red; the light of it shone through Harry's closed eyelids. . . .
Wormtail was gasping and moaning with agony. Not until Harry felt Wormtail's anguished breath on his face did he realize that Wormtail was right in front of him.
"B-blood of the enemy. . . forcibly taken. . . you will. . . resurrect your foe. "
Harry could do nothing to prevent it, he was tied too tightly. . . . Squinting down, struggling hopelessly at the ropes binding him, he saw the shining silver dagger shaking in Wormtail's remaining hand. He felt its point penetrate the crook of his right arm and blood seeping down the sleeve of his torn robes. Wormtail, still panting with pain, rumbled in his pocket for a glass vial and held it to Harry's cut, so that a dribble of blood fell into it.
He staggered back to the cauldron with Harry's blood. He poured it inside. The liquid within turned, instantly, a blinding white. Wormtail, his job done, dropped to his knees beside the cauldron, then slumped sideways and lay on the ground, cradling the bleeding stump of his arm, gasping and sobbing.
The cauldron was simmering, sending its diamond sparks in all directions, so blindingly bright that it turned all else to velvety blackness. Nothing happened. . . .
Let it have drowned. Harry thought, let it have gone wrong. . .
And then, suddenly, the sparks emanating from the cauldron were extinguished. A surge of white steam billowed thickly from the cauldron instead, obliterating everything in front of Harry, so that he couldn't see Wormtail or Cedric or anything but vapor hanging in the air. . . . It's gone wrong, he thought. . . it's drowned . . . please. . . please let it be dead. . . .
But then, through the mist in front of him, he saw, with an icy surge of terror, the dark outline of a man, tall and skeletally thin, rising slowly from inside the cauldron.
"Robe me," said the high, cold voice from behind the steam, and Wormtail, sobbing and moaning, still cradling his mutilated arm, scrambled to pick up the black robes from the ground, got to his feet, reached up, and pulled them one-handed over his master's head.
The thin man stepped out of the cauldron, staring at Harry. . . and Harry stared back into the face that had haunted his nightmares for three years. Whiter than a skull, with wide, livid scarlet eyes and a nose that was flat as a snakes with slits for nostrils. . .
Lord Voldemort had risen again.
Harry did his best to clear his mind, and he blanked out the world around him. Taking deep breaths he rearranged his thoughts and prepared for battle. This wasn't an easy duel anymore, it was a fight for his life.
When he came to and started analyzing his surroundings, he immediately noticed that Lucius Malfoy, Hyperion Greengrass, and Arabella Zabini weren't there, to which he sighed in relief. At least they hadn't betrayed him.
He found Voldemort facing him, a horrible grin on his new snakelike face.
"Duel with me Harry Potter." he hissed, using magic to untie Harry and toss him his wand. "We will see who comes out on top without your mother protecting you."
Harry dropped down, picking up his wand and facing Voldemort.
This was it. This was the moment he had trained for. He had to win.
Lyra.
Her name floated across his head for a second and he took a deep breath. For Lyra.
"Bow Harry Potter." Voldemort hissed.
Harry sneered at him but bowed, his wandless shields at the ready. They had been the first thing he had perfected for wandless magic.
Predictably, Voldemort sent off a Crucio which Harry dodged. Harry sent his own volley of spells back, not holding back and using many many dark curses.
Voldemort smirked at that. "The boy-who-lived, using dark curses?"
Harry sneered and they started duelling again, the ground getting hotter and hotter underneath their feet. The landscape was riddled with metal spikes and ashes of fiery snakes that they had conjured.
Harry spun around with the entrail-expelling hex on his lips when Nagini, Voldemort's snake, struck from behind and tripped Harry up. Voldemort took advantage and before Harry knew what was happening he was under the Cruciatus Curse.
The pain was so intense, so all-consuming, that he no longer knew where he was. . . . White-hot knives were piercing every inch of his skin, his head was surely going to burst with pain, he was screaming more loudly than he'd ever screamed in his life -
It ended and he was vaguely aware of the Death Eaters laughing at him, their voices low and jeering. As he tried to get up he hissed in pain, but stood and gripped his wand shakily.
He summoned the Demon's First and knocked Voldemort head over toe, catching him off guard.
"Accio Peter Pettigrew!" he yelled, running towards Voldemort, his wand already waving as the Triwizard Cup flew towards him with Cedric's body.
This was his chance. The moment Voldemort hit him with the Cruciatus they collided, and the familiar sensation of a portkey took him up up up…
He was screaming. There was a deathly silence around him, and the atmosphere was different. He got up, panting from the exertion and his left arm tingling uselessly from landing on it.
Sirius.
He stunned Pettigrew before the rat could move and let off a wave of spells at Voldemort, his determination renewed by the sight of Lyra's petrified face in the crowd.
"Avada Kedavra!" Voldemort hissed, his anger knowing no bounds.
Harry dodged and used a nonverbal spell to send a spike into Voldemort's leg, causing him to hiss with pain. Voldemort sliced Harry's arm, causing Harry to yell in agony, but Harry persevered and continued to press in on Voldemort, conjuring snakes of fire and dragons of earth to attack him.
Voldemort, on the defensive, glared at him and apparated away, leaving Harry on the ground groaning in pain. His entire body ached from the Cruciatus Curse, and his arm was still bleeding steadily.
"Harry?" Lyra's voice came in. Why were their black spots above his eyes? "HARRY!" she shrieked.
Harry succumbed to the blissful unconsciousness.
Harry groaned, black spots floating above his eyes as he sat up blearily.
"Harry?" a male voice asked from above him, familiar but unfamiliar to his still-waking-up ears.
"Whazzcallit?" he muttered groggily, groping around for his glasses.
He found them and jammed them onto his face, the hospital wing coming into view. The male voice turned out the be Sirius, who was wearing dark navy robes, his hair combed and grey eyes tired.
Harry stared for a moment before sighing. "The hell did I miss, because I am decently sure that you are a fugitive still."
Sirius grinned. "It's been a week Harry. Pettigrew was captured and put on trial, so he is now in Azkaban and I am now a free man."
Harry stared for a moment as he registered the information, then grinned broadly and laughed out loud. Sirius and he hugged, though his bones creaked painfully at the sudden movement.
"You're going to need some more rest time according to Poppy, but you should be ready for the Final Feast in two days." Sirius told him happily. "I've been cleaning out my old home, Grimmauld Place, for us to live in."
"Live in?" Harry asked, still confused.
Sirius gave a giddy laugh, his grey eyes shining as he gave Harry the good news. "Since I'm technically your legal guardian, we talked to the Weasley's and they submitted memories of saving your from the Dursley's, when you had bars on your window. The Malfoys also submitted memories, and you're in my custody now!"
Harry let out another giddy chuckle, so happy was he with the good news.
He took a deep breath and leaned back against the pillows, continuing to talk with Sirius about the daily events. Apparently Voldemort's return had been proclaimed throughout the daily prophet, and articles were coming in day and night about recent deaths.
The Auror forces had been working in tandem with the Hit Wizards and were dispatched all over Great Britain, waiting for the smallest signal of an attack.
As they continued talking the hospital door opened, and Harry's face was suddenly filled with blonde hair, and his nose with the familiar scent of lemons.
Lyra.
She was laughing and sobbing at the same time and Harry realized it's the first time he's ever heard her cry.
"You idiot!" she shriek-sobbed as she pulled away and smacked his chest. "Never do that again!"
Harry grinned and pulled her down for a very happy kiss that had Draco groaning behind them and Sirius laughing gleefully.
Luna smiled serenely when they broke apart and looked at him, her gaze suddenly serious and belying the crown of flowers in her hair. "The time has come Harry, for you to rise."
Harry nodded, taking her word seriously. He would have to be a leader.
"Is she a seer?" Sirius asked, analyzing her.
"Yes." Draco replied. "Welcome back Cousin Sirius."
"Just Sirius." he replied cheerfully. "I'm a free man now, and very very happy."
"Why can't I move my arm?" Harry asked as he tried to lift his left arm.
Sirius suddenly looked somber. "Voldemort did a number on your Harry, even though you also did a number on him. That arm will likely be out of use for a month or so, still healing for cutting curses, four different fractures, and exposed Cruciatus concentration."
"Shouldn't my entire body be healing?" Harry asked.
Sirius shook his head negative. "Your magic expended itself healing you after the duel, and to make sure that it only had one part to heal it pushed all the Cruciatus damage to your arm."
Harry scowled, but allowed himself to lie back down.
"What about the tournament?" he asked.
"1000 galleons are in your vault." Luna replied.
"I want to see the Diggory's." he said firmly.
"Harry they don't blame you…" Draco said worriedly.
"They deserve the gold, not me." he replied. "It's my fault Cedric died anyway."
"No it's not." Sirius replied firmly. "Harry, you're not to blame. Pettigrew and Voldemort are."
"Mr Potter?" Mrs. Diggory entered the hospital wing with her husband, her eyes red and puffy from crying.
"Hello ma'am." Harry replied, gesturing to the chairs next to him. "Please sit down."
They sat, stiffly. Before she could say more Carly Diggory burst into sobs, and Amos comforted her.
"I'm sorry." Harry said, feeling as though sorry was not nearly enough. "It's my fault Cedric's dead. If he hadn't been congratulating me at the time he wouldn't have been taken to the graveyard and he wouldn't be dead."
"It's not your fault." she wiped her tears on her pale yellow scarf, putting her hands in the lap of her brown skirt.
"Did he say anything?" Amos asked gruffly.
Harry shook his head mutely, looking down as he thought of the expression of surprise on Cedric's face. "I know this can do nothing, but I would like to give you my Triwizard money."
Amos shook his head, but Harry pushed it to them anyway. "I don't need it." he said firmly.
"Was Cedric a friend?" Mrs. Diggory asked softly.
"Yes." he replied honestly. "We played quidditch a lot, and he was one of the only people to believe me when I said I didn't put my name in the goblet."
She smiled softly. "Thank you, Mr. Potter, but I refuse the money. Thank you, for helping brighten my son's life."
With that she left, leaving Harry even more broken than before.
Harry looked around the hall, sitting at a table with House Hedwig and the rest of the champions. There were black drapes around the hall, for Cedric's death.
They ate in relative silence, most people in mourning for Cedric. Even the most dieheart blood purists gave a respectful silence because of his fairness and his refusal to bias against others due to blood status or house.
The real Moody sat at the table now, next to Tonks whose hair was her natural black that fell to her waist, her eyes grey. Finally, the feast was over, and Dumbledore got up.
"The end," said Dumbledore, looking around at them all, "of another year. "
He paused, and his eyes fell upon the Hufflepuff table. Theirs had been the most subdued table before he had gotten to his feet, and theirs were still the saddest and palest faces in the Hall.
"There is much that I would like to say to you all tonight," said Dumbledore, "but I must first acknowledge the loss of a very fine person, who should be sitting here," he gestured toward the Hufflepuffs, "enjoying our feast with us. I would like you all, please, to stand, and raise your glasses, to Cedric Diggory. "
They did it, all of them; the benches scraped as everyone in the Hall stood, and raised their goblets, and echoed, in one loud, low, rumbling voice, "Cedric Diggory. "
Harry caught a glimpse of Cho Chang through the crowd. There were tears pouring silently down her face. He looked down at the table as they all sat down again.
"Cedric was a person who exemplified many of the qualities that distinguish Hufflepuff house," Dumbledore continued. "He was a good and loyal friend, a hard worker, he valued fair play. His death has affected you all, whether you knew him well or not. I think that you have the right, therefore, to know exactly how it came about. "
Harry raised his head and stared at Dumbledore. He wouldn't dare.
"Cedric Diggory was murdered by Lord Voldemort. "
A panicked whisper swept the Great Hall. People were staring at Dumbledore in disbelief, in horror. He looked perfectly calm as he watched them mutter themselves into silence. They knew he was back, but announcing it just made it worse.
"The Ministry of Magic," Dumbledore continued, "does not wish me to tell you this. It is possible that some of your parents will be horrified that I have done so - they do not think you are old enough. It is my belief, however, that the truth is generally preferable to lies, and that any attempt to pretend that Cedric died as the result of an accident, or some sort of blunder of his own, is an insult to his memory. "
Harry's blood boiled as he watched Dumbledore turn what was supposed to be Cedric's eulogy into a war-recruiting effort.
Before he knew what he was doing he stood up. "No headmaster." he said calmly, his voice masking a seething rage. "What is an insult to his memory is trying to turn his eulogy into a war effort. Cedric was more than just some victim. He was a Hufflepuff. He was my friend. He was a quidditch player."
Cho Chang stood up, tears streaming down her face. "He was my fiancee." she whispered.
"He was the best seeker Hufflepuff has ever had." Susan stated quietly.
One by one, many people got up to honor Cedric, even Viktor and Fleur.
"He was a good person." Viktor said softly.
"He would 'ave made a good champion." Fleur said.
"To Cedric Diggory." Harry said after everyone was done, holding up his wand.
"To Cedric Diggory." they all echoed, the tips of their wands lit up in recognition.
Dumbledore flashed Harry a look Harry recognized very well. Anger. Dumbledore was angry for interrupting his hard work.
He glared back, holding himself to his full height.
Harry looked around Grimmauld place, at its gothic structure, painting-lined halls, and cool black furniture.
"I like your house." he said finally.
Sirius gave a bark of laughter. "I hate it. Too many bad memories."
They trekked to the kitchen, ready for a snack before they went and cleaned Harry's bedroom for him to stay in.
"What have you been doing, apart from cleaning?" Harry asked.
"Writing an old friend of mine, Moony. Also called Remus Lupin." Sirius shrugged. "We were really close in school, and I figured we could strike up again."
Harry recognized the flash of longing in Sirius' eyes and grinned slightly. Maybe more than friendship. Definitely more than friendship.
"Has he responded?" Harry asked. "He was my DADA teacher in third year, and I'm decently sure he was a werewolf."
Sirius shook his head negative, taking a sip of firewhisky as he sat on the stool. "Maybe he's out of reach or something."
They continued talking idly, and when they left the hall, Harry accidentally bumped into a portrait. It's curtains flew open, revealing an old woman who might have once been regal. She had grey hair in a bun, a pearl necklace, a black dress, and the grey eyes that made her a Black.
"FILTH!" she screeched, her eyes flying open and spittle soaring from her thin lips. "DEFILING THE HOUSE OF MY FOREFATHERS-"
"SHUT UP!" Sirius roared, wrenching the curtains around her close.
He let out a rueful grin. "That's my crazy mum, Walburga. "'Fraid I couldn't get her off the wall."
"I can use magic in here, right?" he asked.
"Yeah, the manor has wards from days of olde."
He grinned. "Fiendfyre!" he commanded, a snake of fire emerging from the end of his wand and curling around the wall. He guided it to the portrait, burning it off of the wall.
"Damn." Sirius whispered, watching as his mother's hated portrait burned to ashes. "You know that's technically dark magic."
"Gonna tattle?" Harry challenged, grinning at his godfather's bark of laughter.
A house elf then popped in, old and weary looking with numerous tufts of white hair emerging from its ears. It let out a shriek at the pile of ashes and hissed in anger at both of them.
"My mistress!" it croaked. "Destroyed by the blood traitor Black! Oh, what she would say, her house brought to ruins."
"Shut up." Harry snapped.
"Kreacher does not have to obey Potter, no, son of a filthy Mudblood in my mother's home." he hissed.
"Obey Harry's commands." Sirius snapped.
Kreacher glared balefully at both of them and popped away.
Sirius groaned and ran a hand down his face. "Dumb houself. It hated me even as a kid."
"Why not just sell him?" Harry asked.
"He knows too many Black Family secrets." Sirius shook his head. "Impossible."
Just then, Lyra's runespoor patronus floated in. "Harry, we need to meet, it's urgent."
Harry spun around to look at Sirius and he nodded. Harry grabbed the floo powder and flashed away in green flames, to Malfoy Manor.
Remus Lupin ran through the thick green foliage, his long legs carrying him away.
It wouldn't be enough, and he knew it. Already he could feel his pursuers gaining, spells zinging from their wands and hitting the trees around him.
A Cruciatus hit him and he fell to the ground, yelling in pain.
"Remus Lupin." Voldemort hissed, a grotesque grin across his white face. "Yes, you will do nicely. Soon the whole world will know that Lord Voldemort has returned!"
Remus glared up at him and spit in his face. Then the pain resumed, blinding white and red, like knives dancing across his already scarred skin.
There was a flash of green, and he knew no more.